JASON SIEDZIK/Register Citizen
Norfolk's Botelle School could be consolidated with Colebrook's elementary school, if a new study were put in place for the two Region 7 towns.

NORFOLK/ COLEBROOK >> Although Norfolk and Colebrook share classrooms in Regional School District 7, the two towns could possibly seek further collaboration and consolidation.

The two school districts, along with the First Selectmen of both towns, formed a committee to study a regional elementary school district, and the ensuing report has been published on the Botelle School's and Colebrook Consolidated School's websites. The regional study committee will hold the first of two informational meetings on the study Wednesday night, starting at 7 p.m. at the Botelle School, followed by a second meeting on Oct. 11 at Colebrook Consolidated School.

"This is a question for the town to vote on," said Norfolk First Selectman Susan Dyer.

Voters in Norfolk and Colebrook will be asked to decide if their towns want to participate in a study of the matter, which would lead to a second, more decisive, ballot. According to Dyer -- who was not sure of the sentiment in Colebrook -- "it doesn't commit the towns to anything," although the trends in both Colebrook and Norfolk will impact taxpayers.

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"It's a very big question which affects a lot of people," Dyer said.

According to Colebrook First Selectman Thomas McKeon, the trend of rising education costs and declining enrollment led the towns to consider a merger of their elementary schools. However, the final numbers in the study, which assumed no change in current trends, shocked even McKeon.

"When you look at the cost per student 10 years from now," McKeon said, "you're looking at $25,000 in Colebrook and $40,000 in Norfolk, which is a lot of money."

Those figures, combined with the projections of precipitous declines in enrollment, will put Education Cost Sharing funds in both towns in jeopardy. Dyer said that thanks to the new educational reform laws which went into effect on Oct. 1, towns which spend more than the state average -- which Dyer estimated at approximately $13,650 -- will lose ECS monies.

Additionally, enrollment figures at both elementary schools are only barely above 100 students for the current year, and the ongoing trends assume that by the 2021-22 school year, the Botelle School will only house 73 students, while Colebrook Consolidated School will only have 86 students. Dyer noted that the combined enrollment at both schools, which the report states is 212, does not even match the enrollment at the Botelle School alone in the late 1970s.

The two districts discussed a merger on an informal basis for years, wrote Jonathan Costa of Education Connection in the report, but both towns got on board after the 2011-12 school year's conclusion. The Boards of Selectmen and Finance signed on to the joint committee in June. In addition to the First Selectmen from both towns, the committee includes Sally Carr of the Norfolk Board of Education, Norfolk Board of Finance chairman Mike Sconyers, Colebrook Board of Finance chairman James Millar and Colebrook Board of Education chairman Jeanne Jones. The respective superintendents of the two school districts -- George Counter and Jay Chittum -- served as advisors.

"We had a good report from Jonathan Costa," said McKeon, "which outlined the future costs, the declining enrollment, which is pretty substantial, and a lot of new mandates that are going to be put on school systems."

McKeon remarked that the trends hammering smaller towns also affect Region 7 compatriots such as New Hartford, whose enrollment at Northwestern Regional High School outnumbers the combined enrollment figures from Norfolk, Colebrook and Barkhamsted.

"I was kind of surprised by the projection of enrollment," McKeon said. "It's not just Colebrook. It's Norfolk, it's New Hartford, it's the other small towns."

Additionally, McKeon said, the committee sought to get ahead of more state mandates, which could be coming down the pipeline. But ultimately, Dyer said, "the end result will be up to the townspeople."

"I'd prefer to do something on our own than being forced into doing something," McKeon said.